Machine for peeling tomatoes



March 5, 1935.

A. DENNER EI'AL MACHINE FOR FEELING TOMATOES Filed Nov; 4, 1953 sSheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS. Qa.

A TTORNEY March 5, 1935.

A. DENNER ET AL MACHINE FOR FEELING TOMATOES Filed NOV. 4, 1933 5Sheets-Sheet 2 March 5, 1935. A DENNER HAL 1,992,995

MACHINE FOR FEELING TOMATOES Filed Nov. 4, 1933 5 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTORS.

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MACHINE FOR FEELING TOMATOES Filed Nov. 4, 1935 '5 Sheets-Sheet 5 32 9 IZ 33 l 55 z 7 EW NM. NV 32 T: 23

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(Lanna/Jam .4 TTORNEY Patented Mar. 5, 1935 I p UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE I 1,992,995 1 v MACHINE roa FEELING 'rom'r'oas I August Dennerand Philip Keiner, Baltimore, Md. Application November 4, 1933,SerialNo. 696,661 5 Claims. (01. 14 43) This invention relates toimprovements in mature for carryingethe various parts of the entirechines for peeling fruits or vegetables and is'espemachine. 1 ciallydirected to a machine for removing skin Two horizontal bars 19 and 20extend crossfrom tomatoes. wise and are rigidly secured ontop'of theangle- 5 One object of the-invention is to provide a combars 17.. andthese :horizontal bars project 'out- 5 paratively simple and improvedmachine that may W y beyond Said angle-bars, a Clearly Showncontinuously receive tomatoes and remove the peel in Figs.2, 3 and 11 ofthe drawings. 1 or skin therefrom in an expeditious manner and Extendingvertically from each horizontal bar with practically no waste. 19 and 20there is a frame comprising two verti- Another object of the inventionis to provide cal bars 21; a top cross-bar 22 and an intermedi- 10 animproved mechanism whereby the skin of the ate horizontal cross-bar 23.These supplemental article of fruit or vegetablethat is to be removedframes are spaced apart because they are to carry may first be scored inone direction and then an endless series of peeling devices, presentlyto removed by means .that travels in a direction be explained.

l5 substantiallyat right angles to the score lines 1 On thetop'cross-bar 22 of eachv supplemental previously made. frame there aretwo upper shaft-bearings 24 and With these, and other objects in view,the inon the outerp je of each of the vention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawzontal bars 19 and there are other'and lower ings,wherein,- I V shaft-bearings 25. v

20 Fig. 1 shows the machine in side elevation. Horizontal uppershafts26'are carried in the 20 *Fig. 2 illustrates the same in topview,.upper. bearings 24 :while horizontal shafts 27- are Fig. 3 shows themachine in front-end elevacarried in the'lowerbearings-25. 1

tion. I i v Sprocket wheels 28 are carried on the upper Fig. 4illustrates in top view, a fragment of the and lower shafts 26 and. 27and. chains 29 pass conveyer and the skin-scoring device at the frontover said .wheels. 25 end ofthe machine. I By reference to Figs. 3 and11, it will be noted Fig. 5 shows the same in side elevation as viewedthat the relative p i i f h pp and wer on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Ishafts 26 and 27 are such that the chains 29 travel Fig. 6 illustratesin top view another fragment in an inclined direction, because the lowershafts 80 of the conveyer and the peeling claws; 27 and'theirjsproc'kets are wider apart than the 30 Fig. '7 shows the same incross-section as viewed upper shafts 26;v j I v on the line 77 of Fig.6. Each pair ofspro'cket chains 29 carry anendless Fig. 8 illustratesanother portion of the conseries of horizontal cross-bars 30 and eachcrossveyer in top view at the discharge-endofthe bar is provided with aseries of spring-fingers 31 35 machine together with the means for raising the which'have the function of peeling claws, as will 35 peeledtomato and delivering it to the cutters. presently be explained.

Fig. 9 shows a sectional elevation through the The spring fingers 31project from the crosssame as viewed on the line 9-9 of Fig. 3. ,bars30in horizontal rows and thefingers carried Fig. 10 illustrates anenlarged cross-sectional on the bars at one side of the machine arestage o detail through the conveyer and the tomato-supgered with'respectto those on the bars at the 40 porting plate-the section being taken onthe opposite side whereby the twosets of fingers will line 10--10 ofFig. 6. r l clear and cross each other as they pass around Fig. 11 showsthe machine in end elevation as the upper shafts and travel downward onthe viewed at the discharge-endthereof. under stretches of the chains. IFig. 12 illustrates in vertical section one of the The intermediatehorizontal cross-bars 23 of'the 5 vertical supplemental frames,andsupplemental framessupport a fiatplate 32 which Fig. '13 shows thesame in front elevation as latter extends longitudinally of the machine.viewed on the line 1313 of Fig. 12. r a At each side ,of the flatlongitudinal plate Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the 32,there is a channel guide 33flandthese guides drawings, the numeral 15designates one endare also'supported on top of the intermediate 50.

frame of the machine and 16 the other end-frame horizontal bars 23.thereof. 1 These two end-frames are rigidly con- An endlesssprocket-chain 34 extends horinected at each side by horizontalangle-bars 17 zontally through each of the channel guides and by acentral tie-bar 18 so that the two frames 33,-one chain passing around asprocket wheel 5. with the angle and tie-barswillformarigid struc- 35 atthe entrance-end of the machine, then around an idler 36 then along oneside of the flat plate 32 to a rear sprocket 37; then about anotheridler 38 and back to the sprocket wheel 35. The other chain passesaround a front sprocket 39; then about an idler 40, and along theopposite side of the flat plate 32, then about a rear sprocket 41 toanother idler 42 and back to the front sprocket again.

Thus the two chains 34 are caused to travel continuously with theirconfronting stretches traveling in the same directionat opposite sidesof the central flat plate 32.

These two chains are provided at suitably.

The purpose of passing the inner stretches of the chains 34 through thechannel guides 33 is to sustain the chains at the opposite sides of theflat plate 32 andprevent them from sagging as they travel from the frontto the rear end-of the machine.

At thev rear end of the horizontal plate 32, there is a grooved. roller44 mounted on a horizontal shaft 45 while beyond this roller there aretwo circular cutters 46 and 47 mounted on the upper ends of verticalshafts 48. These vertical shafts 48 also carry the rear sprockets 37 and41 around which the chains 34pass.

The front sprockets 35 and 39 are mounted on blocks 49, which areadjustable horizontally by means of adjusting screws 50 so' that slackin the chains may readily be taken up.

The inclined sprocket chains 29 are continuously. driven so that theirunder stretches, shown in Figs. 3 and 11, will travel downwardly andthus carry the spring fingers 31 so they will pass in an inclineddirection .over the. opposite sides of the fiatlongitudinal plate 32.

These chains 29. are driven by bevel gears 51 on the lower shaftsv 27,meshing with similar ears 52 that are carried on a horizontal shaft v53which extends all the way across the machine and is supported inbearings 54 on theanglebars17.

This shaft 53 carries a gear. 55 which is driven by a gear 56 on anotherhorizontal shaft 57. This shaft 57 is the main drive-shaft and has apulley 58 on one .end whilethe opposite end of said shaft extends to theopposite side of the machine and carries a. sprocket wheel 59.

A chain 60 passes around, said sprocket wheel 59 and extends up toroll-shaft 45 where it passes arounda sprocket 61 so as to drive theroll-shaft, as clearly shownin Figs. 2 and 11.

The gear 56 on drive shaft 57 also meshes with and drives a gear 62 on ahorizontalshaft 63 at the extreme rear of the machine. I

This shaft 63 is sustained in bearings 64 carried on the end-frame 16and bevelgears 65 and 66 serve to connect the vertical cutter-shafts 48withsaid shaft 63.

It is therefore to be understood that the horizontal feed chains 34 arecontinuously operated; that the inclined chains 29 with their bars 30and'spring-fingers 3.1 are also continuously operated; that the cutters46 and 47 are continuously revolved and that the roll shaft 45 and itsgrooved roll 44 are also continuously revolved. I

At the front end of the machine, we provide a cross-bar 67 which is hungfrom the upper bar 22 of the forward supplemental frame so as to extendhorizontally over the flat plate 32 and the confronting stretches of thechains 34.

This cross-bar 67 is provided with a series of spring blades 68, bestshown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings, which blades extend laterallyin the direction of the movement of the chain.

These blades yieldingly project toward the fiat plate and have sharpeneddown-turned ends 69 that lie in the path of the article of fruit orvegetable that may be moved by the chains along the plate and operate aswill presently be explained.

By reference to Figs. 2, 3 and 11 it will be noted that thereturnstretches of the horizontal chains 34, in returning from thecuter-shafts 48 back to the front end of the machine, pass through thetwo stretches of the inclined chains 29.

Presuming now that it is desired to remove the skin from tomatoes.

The tomatoes 71 are first steamed or scalded and are then fed into thefront end of the machine onto the flat horizontalplate 32. In practice,the present machine may readily be placed so that the vegetables fromthe scalder will be delivered directly onto the end of flat plate 32.

The tomatoes, when placed on the plate 32 will be engaged by the prongsor fingers 43 projecting from the chains 34, and as the chains advancethe tomatoes will be drawn along said plate 32.

As the tomatoes pass under the spring blades 68, the pointed ends 69 ofthe latter will drag over the skin, yielding while doing so in order toconform to the shape of the tomato, and as the tomato passes under theseblades, the ends of the latter will produce a series of score linesthrough the skim-the lines 70 extending in the direction of travel ofthe tomato. 5

The tomato is then advanced along the plate 32 until it passes beneaththe path of the series of spring-fingers 31 that are moved by theinclined chains 29.

By reference to Figs. 3, 6, 7 and 11, it will be seen thatas thesefingers 31 travel downwardly, they will drag in a direction crosswise ofthe direction of travel of the tomato and also in a directionsubstantially at right angles to the score lines 70 that have previouslybeen cut through the skin of the tomato. This crosswise scraping of thespring-fingers 31 across the tomatoes peels the skin therefrom inopposite directions from the vertical center.

The fact that the tomato is moving forward while this lateral scrapingtakes place does not interfere with this operation as one set of springfingers will partially draw the skin down toward opposite sides whilethe next set of fingers will carry the peel or skin down a littlefurther until the skinned tomato passes beyond the reach of thetraveling fingers.

The skinned tomato is then conveyed along the plate 32 and when thegrooved roller 44 is reached, the core or stem-side of the tomato willride up over the grooved roller thereby drawing the prongs 43 that arepiercing the tomato down close to the core-side and as this operation iscompleted the tomato is delivered to the cutters 46, 47 which slices thecore-side from the main part of the tomato and leaves the latter on theupper side of the cutters from which it will be removed-in any suitablemanner.

Havingdescribed our invention, we claim,-

1. In a machine for peeling tomatoes the combination with a fiatsupporting plate, of a pair of horizontal chains having parallelstretches at opposite sides of said plate, a series of horizontal pinsprojecting from the chains and extending over the plate as they travelwith the chains, said pins impaling the tomatoes and conveying themalong the flat plate, a series of yielding peeling devices at oppositesides of the flat plate and means for moving the yielding peelingdevices downwardly in oppositely-inclined directions over the flat plateand tomatoes carried thereon to peel the skin downwardly from the upperto the lower sides of the tomatoes while the same are advancing.

2. In a machine for peeling tomatoes the combination with a flathorizontalplate on which the tomatoes are supported while they travel,of means for conveying the tomatoes in single file over said plate,endless carriers arranged in an inclined direction with respect to saidfiat p1ate,- one at each side of the latter and an endless series ofyielding peeling devices on each endless carrier said peeling devicesbeing movable with their carriers so as to drag downwardly at oppositesides of the plate and over the tomatoes as the latter pass saidpeelers.

3. In a machine for peeling tomatoes the combination with a stationaryhorizontal support, of a separate endless carrier at each side of thesupport and each carrier having a series of pins to extend over thesupport and engage and move the tomatoes along said support, an inclinedcarrier at each side of the said support and each inclined carrierhaving a series of peeler devices projecting therefrom, and means foroperating the inclined carriers to move the peeling devices downwardlyover the stationary support and the tomatoes to peel the skins 'as thetomatoes are advanced along the support.

4. In a machine for peeling tomatoes the combination with a stationarysupport, of two horizontal endless carriers each having means to engageand move the tomatoes along in a single file over said support, means ateach side of the stationary support for peeling the skins laterally fromthe tomatoes as they are advanced, cutters for cutting horizontallythrough the tomatoes after the skins have been peeled therefrom androller means for pressing the tomatoes up as they are delivered to thecutters.

5. In a machine for peeling tomatoes the combination with a fiathorizontal plate to support the tomatoes in a single file, of a channelguide at each side of the flat plate, an endless chain having ahorizontal stretch moving through one of said guides at one side of thefiat plate, an endless chain having a horizontal stretch moving throughthe other guide at the opposite side of said plate, said two endlesschains having pins projecting therefrom so they may extend over saidplate and engage and move tomatoes along said plate, yielding means fordragging over the tops of the traveling tomatoes to score the skins in adirection parallel with their line of travel, an inclined endlesscarrier mounted to travel downwardly past one side of said plate,another inclined endless carrier mounted to travel downwardly past theother side of said plate and peeler fingers carried by each endlesscarrier to engage and stripvthe skin from the tomatoes as they are drawnalong said plate.

AUGUST DENNER.

PHILIP KEINER.

